Silver Pigs: A Detective Novel in Ancient Rome [Hardcover]

Lindsey Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 1989

Rome. AD 70. Private eye Marcus Didius Falco knows his way around the eternal city. He can handle the muggers, the police and most of the girls. But one fresh sixteen-year-old, Sosia Camillina, finds him a case no Roman should be getting his nose into. Some friends, Romans and countrymen are doing a highly profitable, if highly illegal, trade in silver ingots or pigs. For Falco it's the start of a murderous trail that leads far beyond the seven hills.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The intriguing premise of a detective story set in Imperial Rome in 70 A.D. is unpredictably fulfilled by Davis's hero-gumshoe, M. Didius Falco, an iconoclastic young republican. Falco rescues the niece of a senator from a kidnapping attempt, is attracted by both her innocence and the secret she keeps regarding a silver ingot (the "pig" of the title) and then stricken when her corpse is found in a spice warehouse. Hired by her family to track down the reasons behind her death, Falco spends the winter in Britain working as a slave in a silver mine. Enduring vividly depicted hardship with customary sharp-witted pluck, he picks up the hints of a plan to overthrow Vespasian, the current emperor. He also meets the senator's divorced, sharp-tongued daughter, Helena Justina, and brings her back to Rome where they work with--and against--each other to bring the well-developed plot to its satisfying conclusion. Wisecracking in ancient idiom, Falco seems, nevertheless, a recognizably up-to-date young man, one whose honor, humor and humanity work him quickly into reader's affection. Davis's story, though couched in period detail, rewards as much for deft handling of plot and depth of characterization as for its historicity.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Describe a detective in seedy surroundings, an impulsive young woman, intrigue in high places, and the plot sounds all too familiar. But, name the detective Marcus Didius Falco, place him in first-century Rome, and an entertaining newcomer to fictional detectives is introduced. In 70 A.D., Falco is a cynical observer of himself and society under the new emperor, Vespasian. An encounter with a senator's niece precipitates a sequence of events including murder, plots within the ruling family, and a trip to Britain to uncover thefts in the Roman silver mines. Woven into Falco's adventures are humor, romance, suspense, and clues for the discerning reader. The maps are helpful and even the "Dramatis Personae" is entertaining. Highly recommended for mystery or historical fiction collections.
- Ellen Kaye Stoppel, Drake Univ. Law Lib., Des Moines
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc. (August 5, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517573636
• ISBN-13: 978-0517573631
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lindsey Davis' Roman novels begin chronologically with The Course of Honour, the love story of the Emperor Vespasian and Antonia Caenis. Her bestselling mystery series features laid-back First Century detective Marcus Didius Falco and his partner Helena Justina, plus friends, relations, pets and bitter enemy the Chief Spy; there is a reader handboook, 'Falco: the Official Companion'. 'Master and God' set in the time of the Emperor Domitian, will be published in 2012. She has also written an epic novel of the English Civil War and Commonwelath, 'Rebels and Traitors'. Her books are translated into many languages and serialised on BBC Radio 4. Past Chair of the Crimewriters' Association and a Vice President of the Classical Association, she has won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Dagger in the Library, and a Sherlock award for Falco as Best Comic Detective. She has also been awarded the Premio Colosseo for enhancing the image of Rome, and the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement as a mystery writer.
She was born in Birmingham but now lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly charming introduction to Didius Falco series, February 9, 2001

By 

Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver Pigs: A Detective Novel in Ancient Rome (Mass Market Paperback)

For starters, I'm a big fan of the wise-cracking school of detectives. Stephanie Plum, Alan Gregory, and others always bring a smile to my face. Now I can add Didius Falco. What is different is that his snide remarks are 1,930 years old and concern things like going to that barberic land called Britain where, heaven forbid, it's so cold you have to wear socks.

I happen to love fictional history so this is a great match of mystery and history. I learned more about the Roman Empire under Vespesian than I've learned since college. And it wasn't just politics--- the book includes a good sense of everyday life. Did you know that urine was used as bleach?

There's also a dandy mystery with complicated webs of politics and greed and murder to be solved. Didius has a few missteps but ultimately has the moxy to unravel the tangled mess.

My only quibble is a modest one. I listened to the unabridged tapes. The narration is in first person, past tense which is ok. Unfortunately, the narrator has the voice of a fifty/sixty year old man. This made it a little hard to visualize a 29 year old Falco (particularly in some of the more romantic moments).

Bottom line - a series I'm eager to continue reading for the clever mystery plotting, the engaging main characters and the history lessons.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Didius M Falco, Gumshoe and Swain, September 7, 1997

By 

Don Firke - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver Pigs: A Detective Novel in Ancient Rome (Mass Market Paperback)

SILVER PIGS is the first of a series of mysteries highlighting the adventures of the Roman sleuth Falco and his clever accomplice and lady friend, Helena Justina. The latest, LAST LIGHT IN CORDUBA, is just about to be released in the U.S. Buy it by all means, buy them all, but START WITH THIS ONE.

Lindsey Davis makes one critical mistake in this first outing, but it is nevertheless an engrossing and endearing book--and perhaps my favorite. Her hero, precariously poised between the lower and upper ranks of Imperial Roman society, is the perfect observer of the daily life of what the average person assumes was either a very dusty, dry existence or else extremely sensational, as in I, CLAUDIUS. The truth was probably somewhere in between, and we get it rendered in SILVER PIGS with a gritty realism and a charmingly anachronistic Sam Spade delivery that makes the novel humorous and unforgetable.

Falco has a number of problems in this book--not counting his demanding mother, irritating brothers-in-law, and not terribly hygenic nieces and nephews--the first of which is making ends meet. The fabric of his existence seems held together with cockroaches. It becomes increasingly hard to hold together after he befriends the niece of a Senator, who unwittingly holds the key to a dangerous secret.

It is with the character of Sosia that Davis makes her only significant mistake: Falco and the reader get so very attached to her that when, at the end of the first section, we are forced to part ways with her, it is tempting to put the book down in discouragement.

It is vital that you do not, for that would mean failing to meet Sosia's cousin Helena Justina, who changes everything for both Falco and the reader. The novel's pace picks up considerably after Falco is posted to Britain, of which he says sourly: "If your mapskin has grown ragged at the edges you will have lost it, in which case so much the better is all I can say."

The silver pigs of the title, by the way, are pigs of iron, laced with silver, mined in Britain, and the property of the Emperor. At least, that is the way it is supposed to be...

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing piece of historical fiction, June 30, 2000

By 

Katherynne "karthrynne" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver Pigs: A Detective Novel in Ancient Rome (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an absolutely outsanding work on many levels. To begin with, Lindsey Davis brings to life a world which existed 2000 years ago. She details daily life, from Falco's apartment to upper class living, and even the politics of the time, allowing you to experience the Roman empire hands on. But there is much more to this book than just Davis' ability to let you experience a new world - there is the amazing fact that this all really happened. There is evidence that Falco existed, that he fell in love with a young, high ranking woman, and that he actually did help to solve the mystery of the silver pigs. This is not just some throw-back to a 1940s 'private eye' movie, it is one of the original stories, pulled out of the pages of history books and transformed into a fascinating story which will broaden your horizons. I highly reccomend this book! And if you enjoy it, continue reading the series!